I pulled out some wild strawberry herbal for this evening. I am trying to get my hubby to drink more tea but for him it is just "ok". I had some chocolate cherry earlier today, but it has been a busy day away from the house so I haven't had time to have much.

As for today's poll, I started drinking tea a long time ago but it was a huge hassle at work without any way to get rid of the tea leaves and bagged teas never tasted all that great to me. I stopped for a while and then I decided one day to pick up some RoT Moroccan mint and then it started all over again and hasn't stopped. It has gotten easier now that we have a sink and garbage disposal at work instead of having to dump leaves into the waste basket or toilet.

I'm on the low end of 4-7 years. I think it was about 2003 when I started seriously drinking tea. For me seriously means when I went over to loose leaf and started paying attention to brewing parameters, etc. I'd always enjoyed the occasional cup of tea (prior to going loose leaf, Bigeolow's Plantation Mint was my favorite). I decided to order and try some loose tea (more as a result of loving online shopping than any tea-o-philia, but I was hooked. At that point I was drinking strictly flavored black tea. This is also when I discovered that I prefer my black teas with milk. Better brewing, better leaf, and milk made all the difference, and I started drinking MUCH more tea. From there I started branching out- first into white teas, then green, and recently oolongs. I like them all. Flavored, unflavored, you name it. I think I'm kind of an oddball in that I genuinely like both flavored and unflavored tea. I love to relax with a cup of tea in the evening- I simply can't relax properly without one. When I sit on my couch at night and enjoy my tea all the stress of the day melts away. It's fabulous stuff. I've actually been reading this board on and off for some time- but never posted before today.

I've been drinking tea daily for about 10 years or so. Like some others here I have a interest for Asian stuff, movies, music, art, philosophy, history, etc.
I really can't remember what got me started. Most likely it was drinking tea at the Chinese/Japanese restaurants.

Today I opened up some new teas from red blossom. This is my first order from them and so far I'm not disappointed. I brewed up some of their Long Jing in my kyusu. It turned out pretty good. Sweet with a hint of the classic nuttiness. I'd say it's taste is a cross between teasprings standard LJ and Emperor LJ.
Next was some Rougui. It was ok, I was expecting more from it. I used my gaiwan(6oz) with around 1/4 full dry leaf in the bottom and RB recommended temp at 195. Any Rougui lovers out there want to give me some tips on brewing this?
Now I'm drinking some Miyabi.

Let's see. I can't remember what I drank today. I think after I had Russian Caravan I had some Cocomint Green, Eral Grey Bravo, iced Russian Caravan, and right now, Chamomile Citrus which it has a suprising taste, it's almost like sleepytime tea with a citrus punch.
Victoria's Own is sending me some Oolong samples since I've never had Oolong before.

I remember standing by a lake in Nara and blinking in the bright morning air, trying to get the 4am out of my head. I bought a bottle of blue-labeled tea from a vending machine and enjoyed it so much, right there on the sidewalk, that I turned to Yuki and said that someday I would make tea better than what was in that bottle.

She just looked over the rim of her sunglasses and said "Ok. We'll go to a tea shop later. There are some good ones around here."

As though it was something she expected, or had heard before. She asked me on our walk back to the house, "so do you think tea will help you?"

I just blinked a few more times, fingering a pack of Marlboro Lights. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Talk to my mother. She makes sencha every day. And I think she can get tea close to what you bought from the machine."

"Thanks."

Wow, I still remember it so clearly. I also remember Yuki telling me that if I was going to get serious about tea, I was in the right place to start! I haven't looked back since.

Michael_C wrote:I can trace my teaism by a stamp in my passport: 2006.

I remember standing by a lake in Nara and blinking in the bright morning air, trying to get the 4am out of my head. I bought a bottle of blue-labeled tea from a vending machine and enjoyed it so much, right there on the sidewalk, that I turned to Yuki and said that someday I would make tea better than what was in that bottle.

She just looked over the rim of her sunglasses and said "Ok. We'll go to a tea shop later. There are some good ones around here."

As though it was something she expected, or had heard before. She asked me on our walk back to the house, "so do you think tea will help you?"

I just blinked a few more times, fingering a pack of Marlboro Lights. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Talk to my mother. She makes sencha every day. And I think she can get tea close to what you bought from the machine."

"Thanks."

Wow, I still remember it so clearly. I also remember Yuki telling me that if I was going to get serious about tea, I was in the right place to start! I haven't looked back since.

My tea adventure started in 2005 when I went to England on an exchange program with my college. I accidentally bought a box of loose Twinings Earl Grey, so I had to go buy an infuser (one of those little teapot shaped ones). While everyone was paying ridiculous prices for soft drinks, I had my cheap and delicious tea. I decided to find out more about tea when I got back to the states so I googled it and wound up at Teachat. I had no idea what anyone was talking about and I checked out Adagio for the first time. The black sampler and Ingenuitea arrived and I'm now the tea sipping swordsman you've all (well most of you) come to love.